Tag Archives: Summer Conditioning

NOTE: This is a look in the rear view mirror at what we used to do for the first week of summer conditioning. It was dubbed “Hell Week” by participants. Friday…the final day of the first week. We’ve started the bodies on the road to becoming the explosive athletes we need to be in order to compete. We’ve started to thread in a team concept and give the kids an idea of what it takes to play Clay Center Tiger Football. And now it’s time to wrap up Week One and slingshot our way toward the season.

Friday of Hell Week was one of my favorite days of coaching football, especially in those years we were able to move the Friday Hell Week workout to our home field, the historic Otto Unruh Stadium. On Friday, we introduced the kids to the historic aspect of the program. We tried to make the kids aware they were part of something bigger and something greater. It is important for us to have a foot rooted in the past while the other moves forward. We also tried to make the kids aware of the role they have in the community and to appreciate the town that supports them like few other places on this earth.

Friday. Finally the end of the week. The attitudes and the energy are riding high. Kids are working through the soreness and starting to feel like human beings again. Friday. This was a special day for me. Tiger Tradition Day. Until the admins told us we couldn’t use our stadium due to grounds-keeping concerns, we did the Hell Week Friday at Otto Unruh Stadium. I think we lost something magical when we quit running this first Friday workout at the stadium. If I had to do it all over again, I would have never asked the admins for permission to use stadium facility. Shoot first and ask questions later.

Friday

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do things right all the time. Winning is a habit.” -Vince Lombardi

6:30 -6:40 Stretch Runs6:40-7:30 Tiger Tradition

I. FANS – Otto Unruh Stadium seats

A. Expectations and community pride

1. Fans, parents, relatives want to see you do well, everyone wants us to be successful.

2. Strong community sense of pride in this school’s athletic programs.

10 Stair Sprints – sprint up, walk down.

B. Entertainment and Social Importance

1. Friday night in America – CC true to this mantra.

2. Tiger Football is the show on Friday nights in this town.

Families, friends all gather to celebrate Tiger football…Let’s give them the best damn show EVERY Friday night. Let’s let our families and friends to have something to BRAG about and be PROUD of.

NOTE: This is a look in the rear view mirror at what we used to do for the first week of summer conditioning. It was dubbed “Hell Week” by participants. Thursday rolled around, our systems have been duly shocked and now it’s time to start the process of building a team attitude. Try to instill the importance of being the best you that you can be for the good of the team. Be part of the whole, not the whole part.

If there was an easier day to Hell Week, it had to be Thursday. Speed work, low volume/high intensity, following our motto of getting faster by running fast, then finishing the workout with agility cone runs. The team building activity of having a blindfolded returning letter man being guided by underclassmen teammates through an obstacle course was a thing of beauty. If, of course, you are the kind of person who considers a blindfolded, 250 lbs. offensive lineman (with a somewhat nasty disposition) trying to climb steps under the guidance of several scared-to-death-sophomores a thing of beauty.

Hell Week 2005

Thursday

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do things right all the time. Winning is a habit.” -Vince Lombardi

6:30-6:40 Attitude and Self-Improvement

Attitude1. “I’ll do it” instead of “I’ll try”
2. Overcome the urge to quit or to not even try at all.

NOTE: This is a look in the rear view mirror at what we used to do for the first week of summer conditioning. It was dubbed “Hell Week” by participants. I had a local businessman tell me once that he knew when we had started summer conditioning each year because he’d see the boys walking around town like old men because they were so sore. I liked that. And in a couple weeks, the boys would start liking the athletic transformation their bodies would go through.

Tuesday of Hell Week was a day to actively recover from the shock of Monday. Emphasis was put on warming up with our dynamic routine forcing oneself to obtain a full range of motion in the muscles. Time to stretch out the things we spent yesterday tightening up. But don’t get confused thinking Tuesday was a vacation day. It was simple, but it was hard. Many kids this year still fondly remember the lunges up and down the hill at all possible angles. The hill at Clay Center Community High School was (and still is) a real SOB.

Hell Week 2005

Tuesday

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do things right all the time. Winning is a habit.” -Vince Lombardi

6:30-6:40 5 P’s Purpose, Pride, Passion, Persistence, Performance

6:40-6:45 Stretch Runs

6:45-7:00 Hill Series (6 lines)
Runs- Forward and Back
Bear – Up and Down
Lunge Walk – Forward and Back, Diagonal Up & Down, Left and Right Across
Duck Walk – Forward, walk down

7:00-7:15 Four Corner Drill

7:15 Hold the Rope – Juniors ReadTeam Cage Carry
1. Seniors one lap.

2. Returning lettermen, everyone else sits once then sit on cage.

3. Whole Team

7:20 Abs – 50 Sit Ups

Breakdown

Wednesday of Hell Week, the day after the day after soreness is the worst. Kids would be so sore they wouldn’t even be whining. They would think it would be a somewhat easy day since we were repeating the body weight circuit. That is how a teenage boy thinks, it HAS to be easier today than it was Monday, doesn’t it? But, with the soreness being worked out, it was just as hard. Then the hammer comes down in the form off upper body plyometrics, military push-ups, side to side push-ups, wheelbarrows, push-up walk, walk the plank and around the world push-ups. Whoa, makes me hurt just thinking about it!

Hell Week 2005

Wednesday

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do things right all the time. Winning is a habit.” -Vince Lombardi

NOTE: This is a look in the rear view mirror at what we used to do for the first week of summer conditioning. It was dubbed “Hell Week” by participants. I always wanted to start the summer program as soon as possible after state track. Wait any longer and the high school kids slip into bad sleep and exercise habits that take ANOTHER full month to break. Another full month we are falling behind the competition. My belief was (and still is) that every day of training is vital and that one day wasted puts you three days behind.

Monday of Hell Week was designated as a “wake your body up” workout. Not easy, but not too hard, just hard enough to make the kids conclude they needed to get to get in shape. Below is the workout plan from 2005. I think we had nine trash cans in the vicinity of the CCCHS gym and by the end of the second round of body weight circuit, they all had a young potential football player leaning over them. Needless to say, the bodies were awake.

Hell Week 2005

Monday

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do things right all the time. Winning is a habit.” -Vince Lombardi

6:30-6:40 Expectations
Make yourself better every day this summer…have fun and get better.
We need everyone to contribute in a positive fashion on and off field.
Find your niche and become great at what you do.

I think at one time or another, we all wish for the EASY button. Pleasant dreams in which our lives will be made easier by some means of magic. Well, haven’t you ever wished that? Sure you have.

But here’s the bubble-bursting truth…there is no EASY button. If you want to get something done, then it’s time to get to work. There is no EASY button. There, I’ll say it again just for emphasis.
Things worth having are worth working for. Things worth accomplishing are worth working for. Dream big and do the work necessary to achieve your dreams.

If you want to play big, train big.
If you want to learn big, study big.
If you want to play explosive, you need to train explosive.
If you want to play slow and sluggish (even if you are static strong), train slow.

Summer conditioning time is coming around the mountain, boys and girls. Time for a few Coach Hays rants to get the ball rolling. Of all the things about coaching high school sports I could miss, the sidelines, the dugout, the practices, etc., the one one thing I miss (besides the kids) is summer conditioning. I don’t think too many summer programs across the state did things the way we did back then. Every minute of summer had to be intense, focused, and productive.

Why?

The professional teams draft the cream of the crop and then develop them.

College programs recruit the best they can find and then develop them.

High school programs (except for the few private schools) take what walks through your door and then drive and push them to develop into the best they can be.

We had to do things different. We didn’t have big kids, we didn’t have fast kids, and we had very few superstar raw talents. We had to work our butts off. We had to maximize what we had, which was tough, hard working kids. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade our kids for anything, though I wish we could have had their 22 year-old bodies when they were 17. Late bloomers.

I miss it. I miss the groans and moans at 6:30 AM. I miss the energy of 50 kids working hard. I miss pushing them to do things the right way, every time. I loved it and I did it every day from June to mid-August for nine summers for a whopping cumulative salary of $0.00. Best job I ever had.

I will always be extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish with the resources we were allocated and the meager school support. I am proud to have achieved the results we did through the incredible effort, the desire to improve, and the high level of buy-in from the kids.

Man, alive! It gets me excited just thinking about it. Get busy, Kids of Summer 2013. Take advantage of your opportunities. Get in touch if you have a question or need some help. I’ll be glad to help if you have something you want to work on.

Hard work is the magic.

Here’s a little something to roll around in your head until the next rant on “Easy”:

The Coach Hays High School Sports Roles

The Athlete – Show up everyday with the desire and effort to get better.

The Coach – Show up everyday with the desire and the plan to make athletes better.

The Parent – Be your athlete’s biggest fan and supporter.

The Official/Umpire – Please be patient and take into account that Coach Hays is an idiot.

Back in the day, we did our summer conditioning at 6:30 AM. We chose 6:30 AM for three reasons. First, what the heck else were teenage boys doing at 6:30 AM? A few worked, but we were always understanding and appreciative of that. Second reason, it was when I could do it, be at work at a decent hour, and not get fired from my real job. Third reason, it was cool(er) than the oven of a Kansas afternoon/evening summer day.

Sure, it was early, but we worked hard and we worked fast. We wanted to make the dedicated effort of the boys to be there that early worth the effort of being there, so most of the time, I drove them like dogs. I think we made it well worth their while over the years. We worked hard, but we tried to make it fun. We blasted music, I dished out crap right and left, as necessary. We laughed, we cussed at each other and we grew as people. I guess you would call it an intense, chaotic, comical, teenage boy atmosphere where everyone would go home, to convenience store, or to the doughnut shop, worn out and dragging.

One group of kids I always carried a tremendous amount of respect for over the years were the country kids from the outskirts of the county. Most of these were farm kids who made great sacrifices to drive 10-30 miles to get to town for workouts. But, no matter how much respect I had for their and their family’s sacrifices, I could not, and did not, treat them any differently. They were expected to be there on time, ready to roll, just like everyone else was.

Which brings to mind Green Standard Time. There was a small contingent of kids who farmed north of the rural town of Green, Kansas. They would meet up every morning and carpool the 20+ miles to the high school. They were always 10 minutes late and they would always blame it on the senior-to-be of the group, who happened to be our star running back. Every morning, we would start dynamic warm-ups at precisely 6:30 AM and sure enough, the Green crew would roll in about ten minutes late, the younger kid or two always behind the senior pointing at him and pleading at me with their wide, innocent eyes for mercy. Every day, I would rant for a minute then tell them to join the warm-up and get to work.

Eventually this ritual repeated itself so often, I knew it was time to honor it with a name. One particular morning rant, I went off about how the other 45 young men, some of who lived WAY out in the sticks, found their way to be on time every day. I continued to rant about how Green must be on a different time zone or something. Ding! There it was, the name. So from that day forward, from 2002 to 2012, these boys-turned-men live on Green Standard Time (GST).

Despite their tendency for tardiness, the men of the GST have turned into fine men, husbands, farmers, teachers, coaches and even fathers-to-be. And that, my friends, is what it’s all about.